Gemstone: A mineral that is hard, colorful, and has an extraordinary shiny luster. Ore: A type of rock that has a metal or a mineral that is economically useful. Smelting: The development which ore is liquefied to split the useful metal from other elements. Alloy: A solid mixture of two or more metals. Strip Mining: Earthmoving equipment scrapes away soil to expose ore. Open Pit Mining: Miners use giant earthmoving equipment to dig a tremendous pit. Shaft Mines: Often has a network of tunnels that extend deep into the ground, following the veins of ore.
Outline
The Uses of Minerals
Gemstones
People thinks gemstones are great because of their color, luster, durability, and rareness.
Gems are used for jewelry and decorations.
Once a gemstone is cut and polished, the gemstone is called a gem.
Metals
Some minerals are the exact source of the minerals that we see like aluminum or copper.
Metals are very useful because they can be stretched into wire, and flattened into sheets without breaking.
Other useful minerals
There are lots of other useful minerals besides metal and gemstones.
Talc can be ground up to be talcum powder
Quartz can be used to make microscopes.
Gypsum is used to make wallboard, cement, and stucco.
Ores
A rock that contains a metal or a useful mineral is called an ore.
Prospecting
A prospecter is anyone that searches for ore deposits.
Mining
The geologist's map of an ore deposit helps miners decide how to mine the ground.
There are three ways of mining
Strip Mines
Strip mines uses earthmoving equiptment to scrape away soil to expose ore.
Open Pit Mines
Miners dig a big hole using earthmoving equiptment to remove ore deposits
Shaft Mines
For ore deposits that occur in veins, prospecters use shaft mines.
Smelting
Ores must be processed before the metals contained in the ore can be used.
This process is called smelting
In smelting, ore is melted to seperate the useful metal from the useless rocks or minerals.
Table of Contents
Mineral Resources
Vocabulary
Gemstone: A mineral that is hard, colorful, and has an extraordinary shiny luster.
Ore: A type of rock that has a metal or a mineral that is economically useful.
Smelting: The development which ore is liquefied to split the useful metal from other elements.
Alloy: A solid mixture of two or more metals.
Strip Mining: Earthmoving equipment scrapes away soil to expose ore.
Open Pit Mining: Miners use giant earthmoving equipment to dig a tremendous pit.
Shaft Mines: Often has a network of tunnels that extend deep into the ground, following the veins of ore.
Outline
The Uses of Minerals
Ores
Prospecting
Mining
Smelting
Back to Homepage